Book Review: Between Me and the River by Carrie Host

*ARC provided by online publicist*

Between Me and the Riveris the beautiful memoir of Carrie Host following her life from the time she is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer at age 40 and through all her subsequent treatments. The ups and downs of dealing with this disease are described without flinching - her true thoughts, her fears for her family, particularly her young baby, and her hope for a future.

Things I Liked:
The language Host uses is beautiful and descriptive, it brings to life all that she deals with and feels throughout this turbulent time. I loved the stories of her real life experiences, her struggles with the pain, sorrow, anger, and multitude of other emotions about having cancer. The river that she uses metaphorically, weaving it into her life and using it to describe what she feels, is just perfect.

Things I Didn't Like:
Some of the time, her words became a bit more about moralizing than about her experiences. I loved it when there was a story from her life attached, but a few times it was just a little like a sermon. Those few parts felt a little out of place.

Read-alikes:
I haven't read any other cancer memoirs, but The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman kept coming to mind

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
religious exclamations mostly

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: none

Overall rating: ****

Do you think cancer patients and family members would enjoy reading memoirs? What about if they are not survivor stories?

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